Author
Topic: Abillities and Attributes (Read 3252 times)

The following guide is a thoroughful explanation to the attributes and abillities in your character sheet, what they do and what they represent.

Attributes

Your characters have innate capabilities, weaknesses, limitations and strengths. Attributes gauge such potentials. With the simple 1 to 5 rating system, Attributes show not only how well a character performs in a given area, but elaborate on that character's potential compared to others. Most people have Attribute ratings from 1 (poor) to 3 (good), with a rare few holding 4 (exceptional) or 5 (world-class) capability. In rare instances, your character surpasses the limits of human potential, as well.

Physical:

A character's Physical Attributes define how strong, agile and resilient she/he is. If you want to create an action-oriented character, you should take the Physical Attributes as your primary category. Such characters might include those who have military or police experienc, athletes or blue-collar workers. The character's history plus her/his focus on physical health help you decide how many points to assign to these Traits.

Strength

The points you assign to your character's Strength Attribute represent how much brute strength they have. Strength determines how much weight you can lift, carry or push. It directs how far you can jump. Furthermore, it expresses how hard you can hit another character or object, as well as how much damage you can do during hand-to-hand combat. When determining the damage your character inflicts with a hand-to-hand attack, you add your Strength score to your damage dice pool.

The Dexterity Attribute measures a character's overall athleticism. It expresses a character's general physical prowess, including grace, speed, physical reflexes, hand-eye coordination and agility. Dancers, mechanics, artists, speed skaters, gymnasts, surgeons and good bartenders all have a high Dexterity.

represents your character's ability to withstand physical stress. It is a measure other body's resilience, toughness and adaptability. It expresses how long your character can continue to exert herself and how much physical punishment character can take before suffering trauma.

In general, people (as well as supernaturals) are social creatures who need one another to survive. They have their politics in the chantries. Each character has Social Traits that represent how well he maneuvers in social situations. Representing a character's social graces and general attractiveness, these Traits express the character's ability to make an impression on other people.

Charisma

A character's Charisma score shows how charming and likable they are. It represents ability to flirt, please, compliment and impress others. You may do so through a look or a conversation, though having the Charisma Trait doesn't necessarily grant the character a silver tongue. You may stumble over words, but do it in such a charming way that everyone forgives it and likes you all the more for the clumsiness at expressing herself. It also may indicate the ability to get along with people from all different walks of life. A charismatic individual doesn't necessarily get people to do what character wants through looks or force of personality; rather, causes people to like you and to want to help you.

This Trait has many nuances. It covers a character's ability to get others to bend to their whim, to spot when someone else is manipulating them and to hide their true motivations. In many ways, it also represents a character's honesty and frankness. On one hand, a character with a low Manipulation score will have more trouble getting others to see things their way or to do what they want them to do. On the other hand, the same character will probably seem more honest because they don't have the ability to hide their true feelings. They may want badly to bluff, but their poker face sucks. A character with a high Manipulation score, however, can use guilt, blackmail or cleverly chosen arguments to control someone without that person becoming aware of it. Doing so often involves dishonest methods. Manipulation is used to trick, bluff, fast -talk and railroad another character.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Poor: Transparent; you have no poker face.• • Average: Inconsistent; you fool some of the people, some of the time.• • • Good: Guileful; you have a few good lines and methods.• • • • Exceptional: Convincing; you play people and usually win.• • • • • Outstanding: Conniving; you always get your way.

Appearance

The Appearance Attribute represents your character's overall attractiveness. It includes their physical beauty, their grace and those indefinable qualities that make a person appealing. This Trait has little to do with verbal expression or social smoothness, but it defines the first impression the character makes, even before they have opened their mouth. Though we would like to deny it, a person's physical appearance affects how others treatthem. A beautiful character will not always get special considerations from everyone, of course. On the contrary, there may be some who abhor the beautiful people.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Poor: Ugly; you need a paper bag to get a date.• • Average: Unimpressive; you blend with the wall.• • • Good: Attractive; you get second looks sometimes.• • • • Exceptional: Beautiful; you could work as a model.• • • • • Outstanding: Exquisite; you stop traffic.

Mental:

The three Mental Attributes define your character's mind. The scores you choose for these Traits reveal your character's memory capacity, intelligence and alertness to details in her environment. If your character is a scientist, university professor, doctor, journalist, air-traffic controller, stand-up comedian or any oilier concept that requires quick mental acuity or high IQ, then you'll want to make the Mental Attributes your primary category.

Intelligence

The dots in a character's Intelligence Trait define what most people would classify as "smarts." This Attribute represents their facility for solving problems, remembering facts, evaluating situations, reasoning and making leaps of logic. It expresses their innate ability, though it doesn't necessarily mean that they had years of education. A person can have a powerfully logical or deductive mind and still be a store clerk who didn't finish high school. Other factors play into a character's career choice, though any character with a college education or an intellectually demanding position should have that ability reflected in their Intelligence score.

This Trait expresses your character's ability to notice details in their environment. Sometimes, the character actively applies their perception, such as when they're searching for something specific. The majority of the time, however, it's an intuitive awareness that allows them to catch details via one of their five senses. Although they may see, taste, smell, feel or hear something that others would overlook, it doesn't mean that they have the experience or knowledge to identify that thing. A character's Perception score helps them find, spot or recognize things. This awareness includes spotting an ambush, noticing that lost keys are peeking out from behind the dresser, finding clues in piles of useless junk, hearing the hesitation in one's answer to your question and catching secretive glances exchanged by two people who are hiding something.

Your character's Wits score represents their ability to think quickly, to react with expedience to critical situations and to creatively find solutions to immediate problems. This Attribute Trait reveals a character's level of adaptability to changing circumstances and their cleverness in extracting herself from difficult situations. Unlike the Intelligence Trait, it expresses a more immediate and pressing mental acuity. It's not about how much you know or could know, but rather about how quickly your mind reacts to surprises, ambushes, cutting comments and the unexpected in general.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Poor: Slow; you're an easy target.• • Average: Paced; you figure things out eventually.• • • Good: Snappy; you often have just the right response.• • • • Exceptional: Sharp; you can handle almost anything.• • • • • Outstanding: Instinctual; you don't even break a sweat in a gunfight.

Special traits

These are the special traits for all or certain races.

CoinscienceConscience is a Trait that allows characters to evaluate their conduct with relation to what is "right" and "wrong." A character's moral judgment with Conscience stems from their attitude and outlook.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Uncaring •• Normal ••• Ethical •••• Righteous ••••• Remorseful

Self-controlCharacters with high Self-Control rarely succumb to emotional urges, and are thus able to restrain their darker sides more readily than characters with low Self-Control.

CourageCourage is the quality that allows characters to stand in the face of fear or daunting adversity. It is bravery, mettle and stoicism combined. Characters with high Courage meet their fears head-on, while characters of lesser Courage may flee in terror.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Timid •• Normal ••• Bold •••• Resolute ••••• Heroic

WillpowerThe Willpower Trait measures confidence, drive and resolve. A character with a high Willpower rating is steady and self-assured; one with low Willpower has limited self-control and determination.

HumanityIt is a moral code that allows living (or unliving) beings to retain their mortal sensibilities in the face of their transformation into parasitic monsters. Mortals also typically follow the Path of Humanity, though this is largely out of ignorance: They don't know they can be anything else. As such, this mechanical system for morality rarely comes into play for them. Certainly, some mortals - rapists, murderers and the like - have low Humanity scores.

Note: because some races do not have certain traits under same name, it doesn't mean they don't RP it. Example - humanity for mages is replaced with Resonance. Crafts are replaced by Engineering. Only werewolves have "Honour" trait, but it doesn't disallow any other race to be honourable or not having to be honourable in order to keep their humanity up, etcetera. Most traits/abillities are remade to fit into each race, but under new names.

During character creation, you also choose and assign points to your character's Ability Traits. These Traits represent the more specific Talents, Skills and Knowledges that your character possesses. They describe their level and field of expertise in the subjects that they have pursued during the course of their life, as well as the natural talents that they have developed.

BrawlThe Brawl Talent represents your character's hand-to-hand combat prowess. The Brawl Ability covers everything from scratching, clawing and biting to martial arts. Unarmed combat comes in many forms, and your character may have picked up their techniques on the street, in bar brawls, in the boxing ring or in a dojo. They may have trained and studied hard, or they may simply have lived a lifestyle that gave them enough experience to take care of themselves in a fight. The Brawl Ability assumes that your character isn't using any weapon aside from their body.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You can throw a jab or poke someone in the eye.• • Practiced: You hold your own when necessary.• • • Competent: You've fought regularly and usually won.• • • • Expert: You could be a contender.• • • • • Master: You've made fighting into an art.

DodgeWhen someone's shooting at, throwing a punch at or trying to tackle your character, the Dodge Ability tells how well they can get out of the way. It represents their skill at diving to one side, taking cover or otherwise maneuvering to remove themselves from danger.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You crouch reflexively, arms over your head.• • Practiced: You have taken a self-defense class.• • • Competent: You dive, bob and weave with grace.• • • • Expert: You rarely get hit.• • • • • Master: You tip your head to avoid the bullet.

ExpressionThe manipulation of words comes easily to characters with a high Expression score. This Talent covers the ability to use words (either verbal or written) to sway others, to evoke emotions and to get a point across to an audience. A politician character might use this Talent to make his speeches so moving that he wins voters, whereas a poet character might use this Talent to write poetry that touches the heart and makes his readers feel with him. This Ability ties directly to the Social Attributes. A Talent for Expression can help a character motivate others, tear down someone's ego with bit ing criticism, charm an audience or manipulate a person into doing something he normally wouldn't do.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You express stuff.• • Practiced: You have a good vocabulary.• • • Competent: You choose your words well and make your point.• • • • Expert: You touch people with your words.• • • • • Master: You could found a new religion.

IntimidationPeople have many fears, so they can be intimidated in many ways. It can occur subtly without your character even realizing they're doing it. Perhaps their strength of character alone makes them an intimidating figure. Perhaps their physical stature intimidates. In certain instances, they may wish to intimidate someone actively as well, through verbal or physical assault. The Intimidation Talent represents your character's awareness of their ability to overshadow others and their skill at using this factor to get their way, draw information from an unwilling target or frighten others away from taking action against her.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: Your bark is worse than your bite, and it shows.• • Practiced: You intimidate those smaller than you.• • • Competent: You make people think twice before acting.• • • • Expert: You don't try; people just avoid pissing you off.• • • • • Master: You scare vicious pit bulls

SubterfugeThis Talent represents your character's ability to conceal their true motives and act in a manner completely different from how they truly feels. Usually, a character will use this Talent to manipulate people, to hide an emotion that would not be well-received or to fit in with those around them. The Subterfuge Ability also allows them to recognize when others are acting contrary to their own feelings or are pretending to do something for reasons other than their true motives. Characters with a high score in Subterfuge have a knack for secrets, double-dealing and intrigue.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You can pull off the occasional lie.• • Practiced: You hide your true feelings well.• • • Competent: You put on a believable act.• • • • Expert: You have no cracks in your performance.• • • • • Master: You're the last person anyone would ever suspect.

EtiquetteEtiquette gives your character the knowledge and grace they needs to do all the right things. This Ability helps your character when they're trying to impress others, fit in unobtrusively, be diplomatic or haggle. A character with a high score in Etiquette understands the nuances of proper behavior in both mortal and mage society. You may choose a Specialty for her that represents the culture with which they're most familiar.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You manage to stay out of people's way.• • Practiced: You know some of the lingo and don't insult anyone.• • • Competent: You impress others with your ability to blend.• • • • Expert: You're the epitome of tactfulness.• • • • • Master: You'd make others feel like oafs in your shadow, but you're too smooth to let someone feel that bad around you.

Technology/RepairSkill with Technology covers all manner of repairs, electronics, mechanical aptitude and other gew gawgery with devices. Characters skilled in Technology can not only use all manner of devices, but they can also repair or modify such items. Of course, tools and diagrams are most helpful in this endeavor, but sometimes there's no help for it but to trust to luck. Characters without this Skill can probably operate a toaster or a microwave oven, but they wouldn't even know how to change the oil in a car.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: Fuse boxes, broken toasters and oil changes are your purview.• • Practiced: You've done some electrical or mechanical hobbying, and you put together all sorts of useless crap in your garage.• • • Competent: Electrical and mechanical engineering are well within your range of skill, and you can repair many objects or make newones.• • • • Expert: You can even program a VCR.• • • • • Master: If it works on a technological principle, you can break, build, repair or rewire it.

MeleeIn close proximity, a melee weapon — such as a knife, club or sword — can be just as lethal as a gun. This Skill describes your character's expertise with a variety of bladed and blunt weapons. It includes the use of clubs, knives, daggers, rapiers, stakes, katanas, axes, staffs, nunchaku or any other such weapon.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You know the right way to hold a knife.• • Practiced: You've had experience with street fighting.• • • Competent: Sword, axe, club, severed limb — if it's a weapon, you can use it.• • • • Expert: Carving up your opponents is just like cutting a Thanksgiving turkey.• • • • • Master: You flick your wrist and heads roll.

SecurityThis skill entails familiarity with the tools and techniques for picking locks, deactivating car or burglar alarms, hot-wiring automobiles or even safecracking, as well as countless forms of breaking and entering. Security is useful not only for theft, but also for setting up "the unbeatable system" or deducing where a thief broke in.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You can pick a simple lock.•• Practiced: You can hot-wire a car.••• Competent: You can bypass or disable house alarms.•••• Expert: You can crack a safe.••••• Master: You could get a bomb out of - or into - the Pentagon.

StealthThe points you assign this Skill determine how well your character can sneak and hide. It applies whether your character is moving or not.

AcademicsStudy in Academics represents your character's expertise in the "liberal arts and sciences." Academics includes the theoretical and sometimes practical study of anthropology, music, history, sociology, psychology, philosophy, literature, art and any other of the so-called "soft" sciences.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: You've read all the basic high school books on the arts.• • College: Casual intellectual discourse is no problem for you.• • • Masters: You could publish a paper in an academic joumal.• • • • Doctorate: New theories and techniques result from your studies.• • • • • Scholar: You're recognized as one of the foremost experts in your areas of study

ComputerComputer operation and programming fall under the sway of the Computer Knowledge. Though the Technocracy makes great use of computers, today's highly information-based society relies on them a great deal as well. Those characters with low scores in Computer may know how to manipulate their way through simple software, whereas those with high scores can program, build their own and hack.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: You can play computer games.• • College: With some help files, some reference manuals and a little time, you can install or work through most software.• • • Masters: Programming is one of your talents, and you craft utilities to your own standards.• • • • Doctorate: Not only do you write code, you can hack or debug other peoples' products, and you're familiar with the most recent andefficient innovations of computers.• • • • • Scholar: You created the most recent computer technology.

LinguisticsAll characters are assumed to be able to speak, read and write their own native tongue. Any other languages known are represented by this Knowledge. Additional dots in Linguistics give a character a broader range of languages. You determine, with your Storyteller's approval, what languages you want your character to speak.

MedicineThe Medicine Trait gives your character an understanding of the human body, for both constructive, reparative and destructive purposes. It represents knowledge of medication, ailments and first-aid. At higher levels, it allows diagnosis, treatment of disease, surgery and the use of highly technical medical equipment. A character with Medicine is not necessarily formally trained or licensed, but they can practice with the best of them as long as they're careful not to let anyone know! Of course, this Knowledge can also represent a character who is a certified medic, doctor or nurse.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: You know basic first-aid and CPR.• • College: You can handle basic trauma and diagnosis.• • • Masters: General practice is within your range of skill.• • • • Doctorate: Surgery, specialties and the big bucks all await your practice.• • • • • Scholar: At the cutting edge of medicine, your skills are in demandthroughout the world

OccultThis Trait describes your character's depth of occult knowledge, including mysticism, curses, magic, folklore, Umbral lore and various other lore related to the strange creatures and occurrences in the world. It doesn't necessarily imply that everything your character knows is correct, but it does give them insight to weed out the total nonsense. (Although they may still think that voodoo doesn't work, for example, they do know the general way others think that it does.) A character with a high level of Occult also knows a good amount about mages and magical practice, though again such knowledge may be incomplete or inaccurate. It's better than nothing, though!

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: You have some friends who are into weird stuff.• • College: Curiosity has gotten you into the occult, but it's bigger than you've imagined.• • • Masters: Bizarre phenomena haunt your dreams, and you can place the significance of all manner of symbols and artifacts.• • • • Doctorate: You're a true believer, and you can usually weed out the crap from the valid.• • • • • Scholar: Not much surprises you anymore

ScienceThis Knowledge describes your character's familiarity with the physical sciences, such as biology, chemistry, physics and geology. If you choose a specialization for your character, you still have a broad understanding of all the sciences.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: You survived high school science.• • College: With a broad general picture of science, you're familiar with most prominent theories and a few experimental procedures.• • • Masters: Overseeing or setting up new projects and experiments is within your capabilities.• • • • Doctorate: Discovery is your watchword, progress your goal.• • • • • Scholar: You may soon solve science's greatest mysteries.

CosmologyMages spend a great deal of time studying other worlds and dealing with spirits. The Cosmology Knowledge represents this sort of education. Of course, the ways of the Umbra are diverse and strange, and there's no way to guarantee that what works in one place or time will work again. Still, certain landmarks and traits are mostly reliable, and some spirits have a habit of meddling with mages more than others. From such benchmarks, the mage can make guesses about aspects of the universe and its denizens.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: You've heard that there's more than just Earth.• • College: You know the names of a few Umbral places and spirits.• • • Masters: Having visited the Umbra, you're no stranger to other worlds or creatures.• • • • Doctorate: Spirits drop in to chat with you.• • • • • Scholar: Spirits ask you for advice about the Umbra

EnigmasMysteries are stock in trade for magic-workers. Some magicians make an especial study of puzzles, riddles and mysterious circumstances, though. When gut instincts fail and logic can't offer a solution, the character with a broad knowledge of Enigmas sees clever solutions, hidden meanings and the motives behind such tricks. The Enigmas Knowledge can be used for figuring out the best way to approach a puzzle, the answer to a spirit's riddle or even just the morning crossword.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: How'd those riddles go in The Hobbit?• • College: Towers of Hanoi, foxes and geese and a plethora of riddles all fill your head.• • • Masters: You can puzzle out the motives of spirits and madmen.• • • • Doctorate: You do crosswords in pen — in 10 minutes.• • • • • Scholar: You are an enigma.

AlertnessYour character's Alertness score describes how intuitively aware he/she is about other surroundings. Such a character naturally pays attention to their senses and has learned to note changes in their surroundings and environment. Generally, it relates to physical aspects of the area and a character with a high Alertness may be more likely to spot an ambush in the shadows, notice a particular person's perfume, hear the snap of a twig or taste the taint of poison in a drink. They have honed their senses to the point where they instinctually notice things without having to look for them. More often than not, the Alertness Trait pairs with the Perception Ability in creating dice pools.

AthleticsThis Talent describes the basic athletic ability that your character has developed through physical training, sports or other rigorous physical activities. It differs from the Physical Traits (Strength, Dexterity and Stamina) in that it takes your character's natural athleticism and adds the benefit of any training or sport aptitude to your innate physical potency. Athletics governs your character's ability to jump, climb, throw, run and do any other athletic feat for which you may need to have trained or learned specific methodologies.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You're good at watching sports.• • Practiced: You played basketball in high school.• • • Competent: You learn new moves with ease.• • • • Expert: You put most other athletes to shame.• • • • • Master: You defy the laws of physics

LeadershipSome characters have a knack for taking the leadership role with others. They exude a certain quality that makes people follow their orders, listen when they speak and embrace their agendas. The Leadership Talent has more to do with Charisma than it does Manipulation. It represents those indefinable qualities of appearance, mannerisms, vocal tone and eye contact that makes one a leader. A high score in this Talent doesn't necessarily mean, however, that the character makes all the right decisions for the group, only that her/his people will follow like lemmings off the edge of the cliff, just because you seem to know what you're doing.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You could be a scout leader.• • Practiced: You have held office in college clubs.• • • Competent: You exude an aura of confidence.• • • • Expert: You inspire loyalty and excitement in your followers.• • • • • Master: You could lead a nation

StreetwiseThe streets have a language and a rhythm all their own. This Talent allows your character to fit in on the streets, gather information from the street rumor-mill and take advantage of other street resources. It gives your character the necessary knowledge and understanding to tap the black markets successfully, to stay safe and to blend with the people who belong to the street.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You're not trusted entirely, but you can talk to people.• • Practiced: You're accepted, and you can find what you need eventually.• • • Competent: You know how to earn respect on the streets.• • • • Expert: You blend with the gangs and the drug dealers.• • • • • Master: You haven't heard it, it hasn't happened. You always know what's going on.

CraftsThe Crafts Skill includes anything related to working with your hands, such as engine repair, electronics, plumbing, carpentry and the creative arts. Your character can even create a lasting work of art with enough successes. If you put points in Crafts for your character, then you must choose a Specialty for that. Because this Skill encompasses so much, the Specialty helps you define exactly what your character has learned.

DriveAlthough a character can usually handle a car without specialized training, it takes some level of the Drive Skill to handle a car in dangerous situations, tough terrain or really nasty traffic. The higher your character's Drive score, the more expertise you have with different driving conditions as well as different kinds of vehicles. You should establish with your Storyteller what kind of experience your character has, because a person skilled at riding a motorcycle may not have the first clue about driving 18-wheelers.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You can drive an automatic transmission.• • Practiced: You can drive a stick and handle rush hour in New York.• • • Competent: You're as good as a professional chauffeur.• • • • Expert: You could be a stunt driver.• • • • • Master: You and your Porsche share one mind.

FirearmsThis Skill represents your character's familiarity with various firearms, from pistols to heavy machine guns. It doesn't, however, include heavy artillery such as mortars or tank guns. Someone skilled in Firearms can recognize, clean, load and shoot most types of small arms. This Ability is also used to unjam a gun (using Wits + Firearms).

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: The bullets come out of that end, moving very fast.. that's pretty much your knowledge.• • Practiced: You spend time at the shooting range.• • • Competent: You've had to use your gun in a firefight or two.• • • • Expert: Marksmanship is more than a hobby; even skilled gunfighters come to you for tips. The gun is an extension of your hand.• • • • • Master: Your gun is an extension of your eye. If you can see it, you can hit it.

Acting/PerformanceWhenever your character attempts to perform something in front of an audience, this Skill governs your success. It covers all performance arts, such as singing, dancing, playing an instrument and acting. You will undoubtedly have a Specialty in one area, but truly talented performers may have developed expertise in several. This Trait not only represents your character's skill with the act itself, but also her ability to work the audience. Combined with the Expression Talent, the character can not only sing, dance or act, but can evoke strong emotion and improvise or create powerful messages for a given medium; with Subterfuge, the character can easily feign specific emotions or motives — perfect for a strong actor.

SurvivalEvery person has a special environment in which he's particularly comfortable. With this Skill, your character has learned all the little tricks necessary to survive in the environment he knows. Dangers abound everywhere and often a person unfamiliar with the terrain won't know how to avoid these dangers. Whether the environment is natural (such as a jungle or a desert) or urban (such as cities or sewers) it can be treacherous if you don't know what you're doing. You should choose a Specialty for your character to reflect what type of environment you know.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You know enough not to drink stagnant water.• • Practiced: A few camping and survival trips are under your belt.• • • Competent: You could lead an inexperienced group into your environment and bring them out alive.• • • • Expert: You avoid even major discomforts easily with your skills.• • • • • Master: You know your environment inside and out

InvestigationWhenever your character investigates a crime scene, looks for clues or performs more detailed forensic exploration, the Investigation Knowledge is invoked. This Trait implies that your character has learned to read specific clues that give her information. More than just the ability to notice things, it shows that your character has learned specific methods for discovering the truth. You may have studied Criminology or Forensics, for example. It's more than just noticing a clue, it also involves interpreting that clue.

LawA character with a high score in the Law Trait knows local or national laws well enough to manipulate them to their benefit. You can find loopholes in the law, prosecute a defendant with aplomb or advise people on how far they can go without breaking the law.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: You watch late-night civil court shows.• • College: You may have done professional law studies, or else you've done a lot of reading.• • • Masters: You could have your own law practice.• • • • Doctorate: Your reputation for winning precedes you in court.• • • • • Scholar: You could find loopholes in a contract with the Devil.

Animal KenYou can understand an animal's behavior patterns. This Skill allows you to predict how an animal might react in a given situation, train a domesticated creature, or even try to calm or enrage animals.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You can get a domesticated horse to let you pet it. •• Practiced: You can housebreak a puppy. ••• Competent: You could train a seeing-eye dog. •••• Expert: Circus trainer. ••••• Master: You can tame wild beasts without benefit of supernatural powers.

EmpathyYou understand the emotions of others, and can sympathize with, feign sympathy for, or play on such emotions as you see fit. You are an easy hand at discerning motive, and might be able to pick up on when someone's lying to you. However, you may be so in tune with other people's feelings that your own emotions are affected.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Novice: You lend the occasional shoulder to cry on. •• Practiced: You can sometimes literally feel someone else's suffering. ••• Competent: You have a keen insight into other people's motivations. •••• Expert: It's almost impossible to lie to you. ••••• Master: The human soul conceals no mysteries from you.

FinanceYou know the ins and outs of commerce, from evaluating an item's relative worth to keeping up with currency exchange rates. This Knowledge can be invaluable when brokering items, running numbers or playing the stock market. Sufficiently high levels in Finance allow you to raise your standards of living to a very comfortable level.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: You've taken a few business classes. •• College: You have some practical experience and can keep your books fairly neat. ••• Masters: You'd make a fine stockbroker. •••• Doctorate: Corporations follow your financial lead. ••••• Scholar: You could turn a $20 bill into a fortune.

PoliticsYou are familiar with the politics of the moment, including the people in charge and how they got there. This Knowledge can aid you in dealing with or influencing politicians.

Spoiler for Hidden:

• Student: Activist. •• College: Political science major. ••• Masters: Campaign manager or talk-radio host. •••• Doctorate: Senator. ••••• Scholar: You could choose the next President of the United States.

Note: do not pick Abillities that do not fit your character. Do not pick Abillities and max them out only out of profit for rolls. Example - your character can be a badass fighter if you insist, but if he's brought upon interrogation - if he has low Subterfuge, it'd be obvious your character is lying (depending on Intimidation/Manipulation etc of person interrogating you). Roleplay your character correct, he might have good fighting skills, but his Wits are so small that he'll have bad reaction time, etcetera. Thank you for reading.